The invention relates to a sliding roof, especially a tilting and sliding roof, for motor vehicles, with a translucent, rigid sliding cover, said cover closing a roof opening in its closed position, and being lowerable from this opening and slidable beneath the fixed rear roof part, lateral tracks being mounted on the fixed roof part to guide the sliding cover and/or to form cable channels, an approximately U-shaped shield running along lateral edges and forward edge of the sliding cover being displaceable together with the sliding cover, and an independently slidable sliding headlining, covering the sliding cover in the closed position.
In a known sliding roof of this type (German Pat. No. 2,502,775) additional tracks are provided to guide the sliding headlining on the sliding roof frame. The lateral legs of the shield engage a guide channel which is formed by these additional tracks and projecting parts of the tracks of the sliding cover. The shield covers the functional parts for displacement of the sliding cover when the sliding cover is closed and the sliding headlining is slid back. Moreover, when the sliding cover is closed, the entrance of light can be regulated at will. The known sliding roof, however, has a relatively costly design.
Additionally, this application represents further developments of the invention disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. (16912) filed by Walter Schatzler on even date under the same title as the present application.
An object of the present invention is to further simplify the design and installation of a sliding roof, while retaining all of the functional advantages of the known sliding roof.
This object is achieved according to a preferred embodiment of the invention by virtue of the fact that the lateral legs of the shield, together with at least a part of the upper surface of the tracks, delimit guide channels for the lateral edges of the sliding headlining.
In this fashion, additional tracks for the shield and/or the sliding headlining are avoided. Only those tracks are required which would be present in any case, in order to guide the sliding rood and/or to accept the incompressible cables, by means of which the sliding cover is displaced. In this way, not only is the total number of structural elements required reduced, but a considerable simplification of installation is achieved as well. The shield can be made of one or more parts. It can be made of metal, especially aluminum, or from plastic.
In order to avoid lateral deflection of the sliding headlining, the sliding headlining is preferably provided with upwardly projecting rub rails, which can also serve for lateral guidance of the sliding headlining in conjunction with lateral legs of the shield.
In another embodiment of the invention, the lateral edges of the sliding headlining are provided with a flexible coating, advantageously in the form of a flocked strip glued to these lateral edges. Providing such a coating reliably prevents rattling noises coming from the headlining in the vicinity of the lateral edges of the sliding headlining guided between the shield and the tracks. The sliding headlining moves easily and silently. The flexible coating also provides a slight frictional effect, so that the sliding headlining will remain in position even in intermediate positions, something which is especially important when accelerating or braking the vehicle.
In order to ensure reliable guidance of the sliding headlining even when the sliding cover and the shield with it are at the front, while the sliding headlining has been pushed back, the sliding headlining, in another embodiment of the invention, has projections that extend rear-ward and downward, and engage the lateral cable channels. These projections can be formed directly on the sliding headlining. Preferably, however, these projections are formed of parts which provide spring tension, and are fastened by clips to the sliding headlining. An especially simple design is achieved when the projections on the sliding headlining fit under spring tension through slots in the tops of the cable channels, into said cable channels. According to a modified embodiment, the sliding headlining can be provided at its rear end on both sides with a sliding angle, which is guided in a sliding-shoe channel formed by the tracks.
Undesirable displacements of the sliding headlining, for example, under the influence of acceleration and deceleration, can easily be avoided by providing a locking arrangement for releasable holding of the sliding headlining, at least in the closed position and the fully open position of the sliding headlining. In this way, the locking of the headlining can be accomplished optionally with the shield or with the tracks.
For reliable engagement of the shield during displacement movements of the sliding cover, the shield can be connected advantageously at the front and/or above the rear ends of its lateral legs with the sliding cover. For this purpose, parts can be provided at the rear ends of the lateral legs of the shield which are releasably connected with a gutter that participates in the displacement movements of the sliding cover. Hence, a simple guidance of the shield in its rear area is simultaneously ensured, whereby preferably the rear ends of the lateral shield legs are protected against lateral movement at the gutter.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, several embodiments in accordance with the present invention.